A friend asked a few questions about Flickr and I wrote up a response. I thought I’d post it here as well. Feel free to add more pointers in the comments.

Hey Matt, do you think you could give me some tips on how to use flckr to its potential? Just maybe a quick map of your workflow (how many photos you put up at a time, whether you use plug-ins to get them there, and if you cull your pics before/after the upload? things like that?) Because I have no idea what I’m doing, and I haven’t really given myself the time or space to experiment…

It really depends on how you want to use it. Some people just use it as a photo dump and upload everything they shoot. Other folks use it more as a photoblog sort of thing. That’s what I do (did?) and that’s how I like other people to use Flickr. Why clutter the site up with 100 pictures of the same tree, ya know?

Back when I paid more attention to what I was putting up, I’d put up 2 or 3 a day. They generally went together in some way (similar content, similar colors, similar composition, from the same event, etc.)

On my old computer, I used the uploading client located at http://www.flickr.com/tools/. It was pretty good, but I haven’t bothered installing it on my new computer. It makes it really easy to upload your photos. You don’t even have to go to Flickr to upload and you can tag and add photos to sets right from the client.

As far as workflow, it pretty much breaks down like this.

Shoot pictures -> look at what I shot -> take the “good” ones and put them in a folder called “keepers” or something -> go through keepers folder when I want to post something and find some (2 or so) to post -> edit them (if needed: crop, adjust color, etc.) -> post -> tag -> add to sets.

Tagging seems stupid now, but you’ll thank yourself later when you want to find a picture of “movie” or “meat” or “trees” or “tunnels” a year from now. Toby is much better about tagging than I am.

I tend to avoid putting things in groups, but it’s a really good way to give your pictures more exposure if that’s something you want. Avoid putting them into too many groups. That’s annoying and just bad form.

I have a pro account, though I probably don’t need it. I just like knowing that I don’t have to worry about any sort of restrictions getting in my way.

Any other questions, let me know.